Bad for energy, but could’ve been worse: 2017 Legislative Session recap

As of now, the Jobs and Energy Bill is on its way to the governor’s desk to be signed into law. A few bad energy policies made it through, but many more were prevented. Find out what happened.

Pollinator-friendly solar: everybody loves it

Like Minnesota’s bipartisan law establishing a definition for “pollinator-friendly solar,” the Maryland standard relies on a scorecard developed in consultation with several of the nation’s most experienced and respected entomologists.

Minnesota’s pollinator-friendly solar standard has generated interest in states throughout the country and Fresh Energy played a key role helping the state of Maryland secure a similar policy.

Missed opportunity for clean energy as gas plant bill moves forward

Left to right: Clean energy advocates Kevin Reuther of Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, J. Drake Hamilton of Fresh Energy, Jessica Tritsch of Sierra Club, and Leigh Currie of Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy on a tour of Sherco.

Today, Governor Dayton signed a bill into law that allows Xcel Energy to build a natural gas plant in Becker, Minnesota. Though Fresh Energy believes that the bill is a missed opportunity to pursue even greater investments in local clean energy sources like wind, solar, and energy efficiency, we are hopeful that Xcel will bring plans for the proposed plant to the Public Utilities Commission for careful review.